My son Tom has finished Year 12, completing his final exam last week. Even though he doesn't expect his results to be spectacular, the very act of completing 13 years of schooling is a worthy end in itself. It is noteworthy, as I have often told him, that he is the only member of his friendship group from either primary school or high school to complete Year 12. While many of his friends have taken up apprenticeships, some have fallen by the wayside and are yet to take hold of life in any meaningful way, though I hope that they all do. There is nothing wrong with being a late bloomer, after all.

Last night was the SHS Formal at Penrith Lakes and Tom took his girlfriend Emma. Formal occasions like this are one of the few rites of passage that we have left. I can't remember my formal in 1976 all that well, except that I rented a suit from a hire shop in Chatswood and that the event itself was held in a room upstairs in the local Grace Brothers. Maybe it was called the Silver Room.

I haven't had a report back from Tom as yet though I'm sure it was fun and worthwhile with lots of, em, Kodak moments.